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Intensive care: experiences of family & friendsArrow
Aged 31-40
Interview 35  

Interview 35

Age at Interview: 37
Sex: Female
Background: Administrator, married with two daughters. Ethnic background/nationality: White British.
Brief outline:Her mother was admitted to ICU because of gallstones and other complications. She visited her every day, often with her two young daughters, and kept a diary.

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She felt very alone in hospital as she tried to get medical staff to treat her mother's pain, and then had to wait several hours while they tried to find out what was wrong.

 



It was about 11 o'clock and we all went to bed. Didn't notice on our answer phone that there was any messages or anything and then in the middle of the night we could hear it beeping, telling us that there was a message. We hadn't heard the phone ring. And my husband got up and was playing the message and I was semi awake in bed and I could hear my Mum's voice, saying, “Help me, please come and help me, I need your help. Please come round.” And then another message exactly the same pleading with me to go round. And then another message, which was the local out of service doctors centre informing us that my Mum had been taken by ambulance to the local hospital. 

We quickly phoned my Dad who lived nearby and he came over to sit with the children, because we didn't know how long we would be. And we drove to the hospital to find my Mum in the casualty department, in a lot of pain. She'd been violently sick and had very severe stomach pains and was waiting to be seen to. A few doctors came and they all kept asking the same questions and we kept telling them what had happened and they gave her a little tablet, a painkiller tablet which didn't help at all. She was still in a lot of pain. And we just felt that we were very left alone in casualty. She wanted to go to the toilet and I had to go and get her a wheelchair and try and take her to the toilet. Nobody, they were so busy, nobody was coming to see to her. She was screaming in pain. 

Eventually we were told that they were going to take her for some x-rays. They couldn't diagnose just by feeling her what was wrong. So they'd take her for an x-ray and a porter came along eventually and said, “Oh I am here to take you for your x-ray. Oh you're notes aren't here.” So he disappeared for another few hours. Nobody came again. She was still left. I kept going and saying to someone, “Is there anything else you can do, she is in so much pain”, but they were very busy and we were just left to cope with it. Eventually it was about 6 o'clock in the morning and because we realised there was nothing we could really do, my husband came home to be with the children when they woke up. And I stayed at the hospital and we were there all day and eventually she was taken for a scan or an x-ray and they bought her back, still not really sure what was wrong and had to transfer her into a cubicle used for resuscitation. That was the only spare cubicle they had. And again different doctors came and asked the same questions again and again. 

And a doctor came along and he tried to sit her up. She was laying down and he tried to sit her up and she was in absolute agony and they decided that they were going to keep her in over night and do some exploratory work on her to see if they could find out what was wrong. So she was transferred to a little bed in the back of casualty, where I then left her and I came home to get some clothes and see to the children and explain that I was just going to take Nanny's clothes back and then I would be home, which I did. 
Jonathan Miller - Intensive care
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